Best Albums of 2012 | Critics/Metacritic

I geek out for critic's lists (magazines, significant review sites, etc) of "Best Albums of..." each year. Metacritic does a great job of compiling them all with a final artist list of how many times they made a list, what places, etc. Then they award points for achieving certain places on lists, which leaves us with the Metacritic "best of" list.

Check out Metacritic's list of lists for 2012, just released yesterday. It changes as each reputable critic or site posts their list. This page from Metacritic is one of the best sources for checking out new music that I missed in a particular year. The lists tend to sway a few older artists into a place they don't deserve because of their lifetime of work, in my opinion. But otherwise it's solid.

Here's the top 10 points earners as of 12.5.2012 at about noon. Album link is to their list of reviews on that album. Click "buy it" to check it out on Amazon.

1. Channel Orange by Frank Ocean (buy it)
2. Lonerism by Tame Impala (buy it)
3. Visions by Grimes (buy it, $5)
4. Blunderbuss by Jack White (buy it)
5. Good Kid, m.A.A.d City by Kendrick Lamar (buy it)
6. Tempest by Bob Dylan (buy it)
7. Tramp by Sharon Van Etten (buy it, $6.99)
8. Old Ideas by Leonard Cohen (buy it)
9. Boys & Girls by Alabama Shakes (buy it)
10. World Music by Goat (buy it, $6.99)

If you click over you will find their longer list. Scroll down to see top 10's from magazines, websites, critics, and stores.

Smith Westerns | Dye It Blonde

Smith Westerns: Dye It Blonde (2011) is getting great reviews. A Metacritic composite score of 83/100, including Pitchfork 84/100 & AV Club 90/100. I paid full price on the day it was released. You get it for $2.99 today only. Go get it!

Music Monday 12.13.10

• HOT DEALS: 50 Greatest Pieces of Classical Music ($4.99) 
• $5 Albums for December: Check out my whole list of favs | Don't Miss 5: Mumford & Sons | Radiohead: Kid A | Good Old War | Smashing Pumpkins Greatest Hits | Mogwai: Special Moves
• Daytrotter: Ryan Bingham & The Dead Horses | Dawn Landes
• Albums of the Year Lists: Metacritic is now collecting significant "best of 2010" albums lists | Stereogum | The Quietus | Hear Ya top 5 EPs | Christ & Pop Culture 10 best | All Songs Considered: Bob Boilen : Robin Hilton | 5 best genre-defying albums | My Best Albums of 2010: Coming soon. My previous Best Albums lists from 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009
• New Music: Download FREE To Bury A Ghost: The Hurt Kingdom EP --> WHOA! | Red Mountain Music is a personal and family favorite, and All Things New sound great. | Listen to/Download new track by Other Lives, "For 12." Wonderful & haunting. (via)

If you haven't seen the Atomic Tom video where they play an entire song on the subway, you need to see it. Great fun!

Have you ever heard of Jim Sullivan? Me neither...

Sullivan released his debut album, U.F.O., in 1969 and played to devoted crowds at a regular gig in Malibu, Calif., in the early '70s. Despite hanging out with movie stars, fame eluded him. In 1975, he left Los Angeles, and his wife and son, to head to Nashville; he thought he could catch a break there. But Sullivan never made it to Tennessee — somewhere in the New Mexico desert, he disappeared, never to be seen again. Now,U.F.O. has been reissued...

Some dude saw the unknown album on eBay, picked it up and it's out there again. You can now get U.F.O. on Amazon. I've probably heard it four times now and really enjoy it.

The mysterious nature of his disappearance is amplified by Jim Sullivan's cryptic lyrics — on U.F.O., he talks about long highways, leaving his family behind and being abducted by aliens in the desert.

Fascinating. I enjoy the album without the story, but it adds to the mystery. Go check out the samples. I think you'll dig it. Listen to the All Things Considered segment. Here's more on the story...

Here's "Jerome"...